...Continued from yesterday: On Tuesday we headed back to California Highway 1 and this time drove 30 miles South from Monterey to Big Sur, the breath-taking mountainous stretch that runs for about 70 miles along the Central California coastline.
...famous for the panoramic vista from the terrace of the mountains and the sea. Though we arrived at the restaurant’s opening at 11:30 am, there was already a waiting list, but fortunately not a long one, so we had about 10 minutes to stroll around the restaurant and take in the view.
However, as we were perched atop a steep cliff I got butterflies when I looked down and was careful to keep my feet tucked in.
…and Tom’s crab sandwich was $24.50. The sandwiches did not include fries, which had to be purchased á la carte, and of course everybody’s going to buy fries to accompany their sandwich, even at $9.50 for a large basket, or $6.50 for a small basket, one of which Tom and I ordered and shared. The food was nonetheless good - my veggies were topped with a very tasty basil pesto– except that the buns were so big that our sandwiches were impossible to eat as sandwiches and the so chewy were these mega-buns that they were difficult to cut with a knife, especially on the surface of the paper-lined baskets they were served in. Still, I guess Nepenthe’s credits outweigh its debits, and when we left the restaurant about an hour-and-a-half after we’d arrived there was a pretty sizable crowd waiting around the terrace to be seated. I felt sorry for the waiting children and their parents. As for the Nepenthe experience, I felt that it was fine to do once, but I have no need to ever go there again. If I’d had to wait a long time for a seat – especially if I’d ended up with a seat without a view – I wouldn’t have felt that the experience would have been worth the view, especially since there are such lovely views to be gleaned for free from other lovely spots along Big Sur. However, the restaurant’s gift shop – which one need not patronize the restaurant to enter – was another story. I loved the Nepenthe gift shop. It was full of the neatest, prettiest, stuff. …and also had a beautiful outdoor terrace with a view. All the neat, pretty stuff was, of course, too expensive to buy – all right, I bought two colorful woven $12 oven mitts as a gift for my daughter – but the place was inspiring to browse. In fact it was at the Nepenthe gift shop that I discovered the bedspread environment of my dreams: …the whole ensemble costing about $1,000. I figured I could zip over to Joann Fabrics and for a fraction of that price and buy the material to make reasonable facsimiles of the quilts, skirts, throws and pillows of my Nepenthe Dream Bed. Eh, it’ll never happen, of course. But it was nice to dream for a few minutes. After lunch we turned and headed back north up California 1,
…that led to the most beautifully scenic beach. The hills and rock formations reminded me of the setting of a scene from one of my favorite, watch-over-and-over-again movies, “Jason and the Argonauts," when the enraged giant metal god appears from behind a hill on the beach, chases the Argonauts into the sea, ...then wrecks their boat. I wondered if that scene was in fact shot in this location, so I looked up the filming info on “Jason and the Argonauts” and learned that the movie was shot in Italy. My thought is that the producer could have save some bucks by filming at Pfeiffer Beah. But then, really, what do I know? After Pfeiffer Beach we headed back to Monterey, stopping for dinner at a restaurant we found in Pacific Grove called Coco’s, ...which, we later learned, is a California restaurant chain famous for its pies, of which we later partook, though the we found the dinner food really good, too. I ordered the open-faced sirloin smothered in mushrooms and onions with a side wedge of lettuce with bleu cheese dressing, all of which was delicious. The steak was especially good, not always the case with steak – of which there are dozens of ways to ruin it – but this piece was rare as can be and so tender, and the garlic bread atop which it sat was tasty and soft. Tom liked his grilled salmon with vegetables equally well,
For dessert we split a slice of the berry pie with ice cream (which, sadly, I forgot to snap), which was also delicious. On our way out of the restaurant we chatted for a few minutes with the friendly manager who, we learned, not only enjoyed his job but was a fervent practicing environmentalist, conservationist, and low-consumptionist. We’ve been gifted with such a beautiful, wonderful planet, it’s nice to know that there are some people out there who consciously care about it..
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...Continued from yesterday: After visiting the Dali 17 museum on Monday morning (see yesterday’s post), Tom and I drove to Pacific Grove, the next town over from Monterey, to seek out some lunch. We came upon a promising-looking pizza place in a strip mall,
...to the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Junipero Serra was canonized a saint in the Catholic church over much controversy in 2015. After our tour of the Carmel Mission we drove into town. Carmel-by-the-Sea is a beautiful gem of a place,
On our way back to Monterey we stopped again at Pacific Grove where there is a Monarch butterfly sanctuary full of eucalyptus trees to which butterflies migrate from colder Midwestern climates to winter over from October to February, .though now the butterflies have all returned to their homes. Before heading back to Monterey we revisited Los Amigos where found the Mexican food so good the other night, and did again. ...Continued from yesterday: Though our plans for Monday had originally included a visit to the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium,
Now, I'm as fascinated and charmed as anyone by aquatic creatures and habitats, but Salvador Dali is my favorite artist, even though I've seen only a few of his actual paintings, having seen mostly photos of his works in art books. So rather than going to the aquarium I really wanted to go to the Dali museum. Which we did. As the museum didn't open until 10 am we started out Monday morning with another walk around downtown Monterey, ...where we discovered a doughnut shop displaying the most wonderful-looking wares, which of course we had to sample. After our doughnut break it was almost time for the museum to open so we headed down to the bay area to the Dali 17.
Interestingly, the museum was filled not with Dali's more known works, with the exception of a couple of "Persistence of Memory" doubles, ...but rather with etchings, lithographs, mixed media pieces,
It was not the Dali I was used to, but wonderful all the same. At one spot in the museum there was a sofa shaped like a pair of lips across which the light fell to create lines,
An awesome coincidence, thought I.
...Continued from yesterday: We arrived in Monterey on Saturday afternoon and settled into our quarters at the Presidio of Monterey (see yesterday's post). Making a brief foray into town on Saturday evening, ...we decided rather to drive to the next town over to seek out dinner, thinking that mayhaps we could find some less expensive eateries outside the touristy area. So we drove a few miles down the road to the town of Pacific Grove, where we came upon a cute-looking Mexican restaurant, ...with a likewise cute interior, ...reasonable prices, and yummy food. Tom ordered the lentil and bacon soup, which he pronounced very tasty,
On Sunday we took our first proper walk around Monterey,
...and snagged ourselves some nice bagels.
...which is no longer the site of the sardine canneries of John Steinbeck's era, but rather, as described on the official Cannery Row website, "Monterey California's premiere destination for great hotels, shopping, dining, family fun and nightlife."
...Continued from yesterday:
...a free laundromat, pleasant grounds, ...and a view through the trees of Monterey Bay,
To be continued...
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"Tropical Depression"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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April 2024
I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers. Categories |